Lair of the White Worm eBook

“It is not merely that I love Mimi, but I have
reason to look on Lady Arabella as her enemy,”
Adam continued.

“Her enemy?”

“Yes. A rank and unscrupulous enemy who
is bent on her destruction.”

Sir Nathaniel went to the door, looked outside it
and returned, locking it carefully behind him.

CHAPTER XX—­METABOLISM

“Am I looking grave?” asked Sir Nathaniel
inconsequently when he re-entered the room.

“You certainly are, sir.”

“We little thought when first we met that we
should be drawn into such a vortex. Already
we are mixed up in robbery, and probably murder, but—­a
thousand times worse than all the crimes in the calendar—­in
an affair of ghastly mystery which has no bottom and
no end—­with forces of the most unnerving
kind, which had their origin in an age when the world
was different from the world which we know.
We are going back to the origin of superstition—­to
an age when dragons tore each other in their slime.
We must fear nothing—­no conclusion, however
improbable, almost impossible it may be. Life
and death is hanging on our judgment, not only for
ourselves, but for others whom we love. Remember,
I count on you as I hope you count on me.”

“I do, with all confidence.”

“Then,” said Sir Nathaniel, “let
us think justly and boldly and fear nothing, however
terrifying it may seem. I suppose I am to take
as exact in every detail your account of all the strange
things which happened whilst you were in Diana’s
Grove?”

“So far as I know, yes. Of course I may
be mistaken in recollection of some detail or another,
but I am certain that in the main what I have said
is correct.”

“You feel sure that you saw Lady Arabella seize
the negro round the neck, and drag him down with her
into the hole?”

“Absolutely certain, sir, otherwise I should
have gone to her assistance.”

“We have, then, an account of what happened
from an eye-witness whom we trust—­that
is yourself. We have also another account, written
by Lady Arabella under her own hand. These two
accounts do not agree. Therefore we must take
it that one of the two is lying.”

“Apparently, sir.”

“And that Lady Arabella is the liar!”

“Apparently—­as I am not.”

“We must, therefore, try to find a reason for
her lying. She has nothing to fear from Oolanga,
who is dead. Therefore the only reason which
could actuate her would be to convince someone else
that she was blameless. This ‘someone’
could not be you, for you had the evidence of your
own eyes. There was no one else present; therefore
it must have been an absent person.”

“That seems beyond dispute, sir.”

“There is only one other person whose good opinion
she could wish to keep—­Edgar Caswall.
He is the only one who fills the bill. Her lies
point to other things besides the death of the African.
She evidently wanted it to be accepted that his falling
into the well was his own act. I cannot suppose
that she expected to convince you, the eye-witness;
but if she wished later on to spread the story, it
was wise of her to try to get your acceptance of it.”